A cracking
run this morning across frost covered fields around the Yorkshire village of
Burley in Wharfedale. The temperature
hadn't even risen above freezing, but I dragged Martin out at nine for an hour
long loop around the outskirts of Burley in Wharfedale. The harsh frost had solidified the muddy
fields that we had walked upon the previous day, making for more pleasant
running.
We took off
past the station, up Hag Farm Road, passing the farm on the gentle incline, before
cutting onto the fields. There is a
wonderful network of footpaths alongside the fields around Burley and I could
have run for hours this morning. We
dropped back onto the road into Menston, before turning back alongside the
railway line for the return to Burley, grabbing a paper in the village before
heading into the nature reserve at the end of Sun Lane. Here we looped around the former landfill
site, now a lovely secluded spot, with a few dog walkers and bird watchers out
enjoying an early morning walk.
A great 15
kilometre walk from Burley, which we made the previous day, heads up Sun Lane
and across the railway, then straight up boggy fields (no gentle warm up
here). We carried on along field edges
to Moor Road, for the short but brutal climb (it might have been sunny but the
freezing air was biting into my lungs) onto Ilkley Moor.
We followed
the edge of the Moor, with clear views across the valley to the right, pausing
briefly at Cow and Calf rocks, then heading up and through the suddenly silent
Rocky Valley. The moor had been busy
with walkers and runners, despite the cold, but now felt quiet and
isolated. We continued to skirt the moor
above Ilkley and, as usual making at least one navigational error, ended up
dropping down too off the moor too soon.
Neither of us having much enthusiasm for ascending again (I must be
getting old), we agreed to start heading towards our destination of
Addingham. There are so many footpaths
here it really didn't matter which one we took as long as it headed downhill.
Off the
moor, the paths were boggy again and at times I think we were walking in
streams rather than alongside them. We
pushed on alongside the river out of Addingham towards Bolton Abbey. It is a lovely riverside walk here, heading
upstream with the River Wharfe on your right, but it was a mistake to get back
onto Bolton Road to cut off a corner as the river meanders. Its just too busy with cars and narrow for
pleasant walking. It is well worth
continuing to the impressive Bolton Abbey (starting point for many further
walks) and with some fun stepping stones across the river, although the stones
were underwater today.
